Insurance Tips

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners has come up with a series of tips and a checklist related to health insurance issues should swine flu strike your area.

Does your policy require a pre-authorization for hospital admission or other services? What is your co-payment for the most common H1N1 treatments? The two drugs doctors can prescribe to treat H1N1 flu are Tamiflu and Relenza. In addition, you should know of any limitations on the number of doses covered by your policy – per prescription or per year. What is your out-of-network co-payment? If your area is heavily affected by the spread of the H1N1 flu outbreak, your regular physician might not be able to see you in a timely manner. If you must go to an out-of-network provider, be aware you will likely pay a higher co-payment for your office visit and any tests run during the visit.

Checklist: Have your health insurance ID card handy. Review your health insurance policy provisions. Know which doctors and hospitals are in your network. Make note of your co-payments. Know how much a doctor’s office visit will cost. Check to see if your co-payments go up if you go out-of-network. Keep handy a list of pharmacies and medications covered by your health insurance policy. If you have plans to travel, make sure you check to see if there are any doctors or medical facilities in-network where you will be visiting. Make sure you have contact details for your health insurance company available in case you have questions.